Reviving Digimon with a Brand New Theme || Setting the Tone

0:00 [Music] i think any 90s kid will tell you that the first time they came across anime was probably with pokemon sailor moon or dragon ball z and as one of those kids i think i'm amongst the majority in saying that i knew what digimon was but never got into it it was one of those shows that i might randomly catch an episode of on tv every once in a while but my only real exposure to it was the movie and so i knew basically nothing about the franchise except for the original team's

0:45 english names and with no connection to the digital world aside from those few things i was surprised by how hyped i was when the tri-movies were first announced back in 2014. fast forward six years to 2020 i binged through all six of them had no idea who the bad guy was because again i still don't really know the story and then the reboot gets announced a retelling of the original digimon adventure set in the current decade honestly i was feeling a little indifferent to it until i heard good things about the first few episodes so i checked it out and oh my god is that omnimod in episode 2 what is happening but more than that i was shocked by just how much i was unironically enjoying it and not for any nostalgia reasons but

1:32 because it was genuinely impressive and more than anything else i was shocked and continue to be shocked by just how incredible the soundtrack is for what's become a pretty lackluster show 50 plus episodes in the music remains a high point for the series the main theme paving the way for most of the important pieces in the soundtrack composer sahasi toshihiko isn't a name i'm familiar with despite having written the music for shows like full metal panic gundam seed and the original hunter hunter that said if his music is always this good then i'll be looking forward to his future [Music] [Applause] projects the track that played at the start is usually an incidental piece played at

2:18 the very beginning and ending segment of each episode to accompany the recap and digimon trivia respectively this is the fully realized version of the theme putting the main motif on full display while also taking us through the motions of how the story will progress and while i can't help wondering why such an emotional and beautiful piece of music went to a digimon reboot the level of drama and intensity within it was the first indication that my preconceived notions about digimon being just another aimless series with a vague overarching story in the same vein as pokemon were unfounded the main theme opens with a high string drone and harp arpeggio outlining a simple c minor chord to lay the foundation for the piece this usage of the harp is a classic method of reeling in the listener as it

3:04 implies the beginning of a sort of epic journey or tale an english horn joins in soon after playing a simplified version of the main motif as if the music itself is still in the midst of being written [Music] [Applause] this reflects the grandness of the story the music is trying to convey building the tale from its humble beginnings so that it can evolve over time the melody itself plays in a dorian scale utilizing the sharp six a natural to give the music a slightly brighter more folktale-like sound the clarinet solo that switches in after the english horn finishes is where the real music nerd comes out in me because as simple sounding and unimportant as it is in the grand scheme

3:51 of the actual theme it's one of the most interesting rhythms for a very specific reason what looks to be a simple call and response pattern is actually a rhythmic palindrome in that if we take the quarter note in the middle cut it in half and ignore the actual pitches this relatively unnoticed clarinet run is a mirror image of itself [Music] while i'm sure this wasn't the intent of sahasi when he wrote it this acts as a representation of the real world and digital world giving us a brief glimpse of the two worlds at stake as the music is still in the process of building the world for us intentional or not this is an incredible little melodic run and the

4:38 fact that it occurs so early on can be considered a genius decision or pure dumb luck but more importantly than any of that is the melody immediately following the chord swell played by the brass section here the piccolo plays the main motif of the series lightly introducing us to the story about to unfold with an octave rise responding with a simple wave-like pattern this phrase in itself serves as a call as well setting up the response that begins with a reduced rising pattern into a descent that lands on b below the starting c looking ahead we can see a much broader rising and descending pattern that ultimately lands on the high

5:25 g giving us the sense of the many trials as the chosen children and their digimon partners journey across the digital world in order to save it along with their own world this high g also leaves the music feeling hopeful but still rather open-ended implying the return back to c in the next bar but without resolving the phrase itself [Music] bar 20 is where the music really feels like it's begun conjuring images of taiji agumon and the rest of the team beginning their journey across the digital world with the introduction of the strings and an actual bass line to ground the melody and create a full-bodied supporting harmony

6:14 while simply repeating the main motif the presence of the full string section really drives home that the events are now in motion unlike before where the story was merely being set up this is expanded upon when the main melody finishes leading into an expansion that develops the piece more dramatically this following section is made up of a rising motion played by the high strings and woodwinds leading into a powerful descent as the strings play in unison we also have a reintroduction of the brass section playing the rising melody one bar light so that it offsets the descending pattern on the strings and woodwinds this allows the music to continue feeling hopeful in spite of the sweeping descents that would normally drag us down with them as there is always a sense of rising no

7:00 matter what the main melody is actually doing [Applause] leading into the next section we get another one of the extremely undeniably awesome rhythmic mirroring effects this time played by the horns and trumpets while a trombone holds a steady sea underneath by using the brass this time the pattern now sounds more intense implying that the heroes have reached a point at which the real and digital worlds are actually in danger unlike how before it was merely being prophesied and spoken of as some imminent looming threat [Music] [Applause] [Music] this gets followed up by a sharp

7:47 rhythmic march played by the strings and flute strengthening the hero's resolve as they commit to awakening the holy digimon and defeating the evil millennium on this leads into a short breakdown where the oboe and flute play out the incredibly amazing undeniably relevant and important cool rhythmic mirroring pattern followed by a response on the strings that both descends and rises up after each descent giving the melody a stair-like quality as it gets higher and higher regardless of its descent this again serves as a way to create drama as the descending pattern can be seen to represent the evil forces battling against the heroes while ultimately being unable to stop them from prevailing also known as plot armor in musical form

8:34 [Music] with this rising triumphant pattern the orchestra is able to swell back into the main motif bursting with powerful undertones from the supporting harmonies and offset counter melodies that end with a bright c major basically screaming out that good has defeated evil as it comes to a close the piccolo and english horn play what seems like a half-finished version of the main motif utilizing the call portion of the melody we heard at the very beginning of the piece but responding with the full version second half this implies that perhaps no matter how many evils the heroes saved the worlds from there will always be remnants of evil lurking waiting for the

9:20 chance to take over once again i usually like discussing how composers use complex techniques to develop their simple thematic ideas and what kind of chord progressions or modal shifts they utilize in order to generate interest in what would otherwise be a fairly simple call and response melody but in the case of digimon adventures theme everything is pretty simple and straightforward the most complex harmonies come from the key switching between c minor and c dorian with one or two instances of g major and c major coming into play but ultimately nothing particularly noteworthy occurs why this piece works so well is because it captures the essence of adventure throughout its entire run and for a series that has adventure right there in the title there's nothing more fitting than a piece of music that can live up to the grand scale of such an

10:06 adventure and now that we've familiarized ourselves with the main theme it's time to take a look at how sahashi developed and distorted it to fit into different situations here we have a simple string piece directly derived from the main motif but altered enough that it seems obvious that it isn't just a rearrangement for strings the piece opens with the middle motif from the main theme first introduced as an extension of the main motif itself it never fully completes these cycles simply playing the first few notes before jumping into a different starting position first c major then a minor then g major this is then followed by what was originally the opening motif

10:52 again only playing the first few notes starting on g major then jumping to c major the final pattern consists of the counter melody that the brass played during the main motif in order to keep a consistent feeling of rising hopefulness even when the main melody was descending as you'll probably have noticed this entire piece is made up of the parts that make up the main theme without the actual main motif that makes the piece the main theme and this is an incredibly clever way to make a piece that sounds familiar and fits the idea of what this track is all

11:38 about the bonds shared between the chosen children the main motif is the part that drives the track along giving it that powerful sense of adventure and evolution incredibly fitting for a main theme but not so much when the focus is on the more intimate side of the story looking at the relationships between the children and their partner digimon and so by leaving out the main component of the music what we're left with are essentially just the parts that hold it together the substance without the source without the adventure these are merely a group of children and their partners having fun and doing whatever they want as we can hear when the adventurous side of the music is left out [Music] this one sounds different what's

12:25 interesting here is that none of the notes are the same and the melodic line is almost in complete opposition to the main theme yet there's somehow no mistaking the fact that this is also a derivative of that same main theme to explain how this works the two major ways to make a derivative piece of music are to utilize the same note intervals and change the rhythms or to change the notes but keep the rhythms the same the former tends to be why you can hear a cover of your favorite songs in a completely different style of music because aside from the lyrics the pitches are usually the same though it might be transposed into another key and be arranged differently the latter is what we have here in that despite the pitches being completely different the rhythm of the track is the same as the adventure motif and thus it still sounds sort of the same without sounding

13:11 anything like it as a side note this is what tends to happen when rap songs are made into melodic guitar songs by white guys if you haven't girl problems i feel bad for you son i got 99 problems but a ain't one and to focus on the track itself it takes a little while before it actually gets into this section but when it reaches it the heaviness of the mostly descending melody really sells the fact that this is meant to fill you with a sense of dread we recognize the rhythmic pattern but there is no sense of hope and this works in complete contrast to the hopeful piece making it sound nearly twice as despairing as it would if it had followed the melodic shape of the original a bit more closely

13:56 [Music] this is the track that plays during the evolution sequences mostly reserved for agumon becoming greymon and gabumon becoming garurumon because those two actually get full transformation sequences instead of a 3 second microsoft powerpoint transition here the melody has been taken over by the brass section which fits the situation given that solo horns are often used to represent heroes and film scores and let's not forget about how the strings have also taken the incredibly thought-provoking profound rhythmic palindrome to use as a counter-melody against the main theme's rising melody [Music]

14:42 while this track certainly sounds more upbeat and driving than the regular main theme it also lacks the dramatic energy from the orchestral version this is mainly because the arrangement isn't nearly as grandiose but also because while the main theme is a narrative piece set to accompany important events throughout the story this one is simply a battle track made to suit the scenes in which the main digimon have had a chance to evolve and take on their foes and despite the horns implying that the heroes will win this isn't always the case and the slightly darker harmonies and counter melodies are used to account for that in essence this is just a standard piece of battle music and while it could have been more grandiose or decisive there are other pieces of music that were made for exactly those reasons allowing this one to serve as the main battle track

15:27 making the decision to use the main themed melody all the more suitable and these are just a handful of tracks that utilize the main theme in a variety of different ways there are actually tons of other pieces on the soundtrack that derive from or just directly quote the main theme but mentioning them all would be pointless because many of them fall under the same category as others such as the menacing enemy version and more lighthearted derivatives the soundtrack does still surprise me with just how good it is overall but i did leave off the laid-back iterations because while they do utilize the theme in ways i didn't mention i don't think they actually sound that good this theme is strong because it has a melody that lends itself well to the more serious aspects of the show whether that's an epic quest the bonds between heroes or the trials those heroes have

16:13 to face i'm sure that with enough arranging and stylizing this could have sounded good as a more laid-back melody as well but unfortunately all we got were tracks that sounded like this [Music] they aren't all in this style of music but these laid-back iterations all sound equally as cheesy and again i think they could have sounded great with better arrangement but sadly this just wasn't the case anyway this is only what comes from the soundtrack's first volume as it's the only one that's been released as of this video let me know what you guys thought of digimon's new theme music down in the comment section below and don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my channel i doubt many people are actually

17:00 watching the new digimon adventure and it's the soundtracks for relatively nice shows like this that i like sharing so that appreciation can go to an aspect that i think a lot of people just kind of ignore so if you know of any other amazing soundtracks for shows that don't really get a lot of attention make sure to let me know over here or over on patreon where you'll have access to things like the transcriptions that i do for all of my videos including the one that i did for this one thanks as always for watching and i will see you in the next one [Applause] so